by a local schoolmaster, and he learned the treble clef in three days. MusIc was always part of the daily life of the Szell household. (The boy' s father, a successful lawyer and businessman, had spent his bachelor days in Paris, where he went around with musicians and be- came such an opera fan that he thought nothing of taking a Channel steamer to attend a great night at London's Cov- ent Garden when Melba, Patti, or the de Reszkes were singing.) When the familv moved to Vienna in 1903, Szell's mother began to teach him a little pi- ano, and one day hIS father took him to Theodor Leschetizky then the most famous piano pedagogue in Vienna. Szell vaguely remembers a gruff old man who listened without interest whIle he played and then told his father that he didn't think the boy really had it in him, and, anyway, he had no time for another prodigy. A few months later, the bov had pneumonIa and was treated by a neigh- borhood doctor After his recovery, the Szells were invited to the doctor's house, where the doctor's daughter entertained the guests by playing the pIano. Back home, young Szell sat down and wrote out a full page of a waltz she had played. He showed the page to his father, who compared it with the printed music the next morn- ing and found that It was a practically faultless notation from memory. Szell's father discussed the feat with the doc- tor , who, as it happened, knew a re- markable pIanist and teacher named Richard Robert. A musical maverick who didn't teach at the conservatory and kept away from the local cliques, Robert had an a version to musical prodigies, but he agreed to listen to the boy. This test was quite different from the one at Leschetizky's. Robert listened and was impressed. "I can't say anything yet, but I'll take him on approval," he told Szell's father. "I'll give him one lesson a week, and one of my assistants will come to your house and work with him." A month later, Robert accepted the boy as a regular student, whereupon Szell was taken out of school, which he had just started, and began studying with a private tutor. "I haven't seen the inside of a classroom since," Szell told me. It has been suggested that his rather auto- cratic manners on the podium may be connected with the fact that he never learned to mix with other chil- dren This bit of analysis does not disturb Szell When I mentioned it, he said merely, "I learned more at home from my tutors than I would have in schoo1." He speaks a number of lan- 83 ,/{ ..f: -------- #' , .r '., 'y , ' ,:, m ;, ......... ...:& W7 ::,,1 Æ "'^ ,':(: ^ ,. . / .",,- \, '\.. 'J i '!" vt / ""::-,<i.!: :..:- " .. : .4< -:.;; <.." ... e - ss - - S - - - s You'll find Guide Cornering Lamps on your new Oldsmobile help light the way to easier nighttime turns. When you actuate your turn signal lever at night a cornering lamp goes "On." The result is a steady beam of light directed to the side that helps you avoid possible hazards. You'll find Cornering Lamps ideal for poorly lighted street corners, driveways and other nighttime driving situations. At the time you order your new Olds- mobile Toronado, Ninety-Eight, Delta 88, Dynamic 88 or Starfire - you can equip the model of your choice with Guide Cornering Lamps Ask your Oldsmobile salesman. CORNERING LAMPS V GUIDE GUIDE LAMP DIVISION · GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION · ANDERSON INDIANA